Title: A Flight of Angels Author: Sarah Aldridge ISBN: 1-56280-001-9 Publisher: A&M Books (originally from Naiad) Distributed by A&M Books (www.fayjacobs.com) Price: $12.00 Pages: 231 Genre: Romance/Lesbian

Title: Behind the Pine Curtain Author: Gerri Hill ISBN: 978-1594930577 Publisher: Bella Books, www.bellabooks.com Available From: Bella Books, www.bellabooks.com and StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz Price: $13.95 Pages: 268 Genre: Romance/Lesbian

Behind the Pine Curtain was a 2007 Golden Crown Literary Society “Goldie” award winner in the Romance category. In this story, a thirty-something best selling author, Jacqueline Keys, reluctantly returns to her hometown of Pine Springs, Texas at the request of her father’s lawyer. The auto accident that took her father’s life has also left her mother seriously injured in the hospital, but Jackie hasn’t seen her parents in over 15 years—ever since the day her mother gave her bus fare out of town and told her never to come back because Jackie had told her that she was gay. Her mother’s motivation was solely what people would think.

Behind the Pine Curtain brings Jackie home to a town that she no longer embraces—and who doesn’t exactly embrace her. However, there is one family, the Garlands, who still seem to accept Jackie for the little girl she once was when she spent every free moment with her best friend, Kay Garland. They welcome Jackie back with open arms, even though Kay seems to vacillate between being aloof and wanting the closeness they once had.

While Jackie was away from Pine Springs struggling to create a life for herself, Kay married a teenage boyfriend, but the marriage was one not made in heaven and lasted only a short time. Since then, Kay has lived a life alone only allowing her family close to her and refusing all offers to “fix her up.” Jackie’s arrival throws both women into turmoil because Jackie had deep feelings that went beyond friendship for Kay—and the fire is quickly rekindled in Jackie. However, she’s convinced that Kay would never reciprocate.

While juggling her feelings for Kay, Jackie also has to deal with some life-altering events as a result of her father’s death, including coming to terms with her mother’s rejection. Her father, though, apparently, never forgot Jackie or stopped loving his little girl, and always regretted allowing her mother to send her packing without any emotional or financial support. As a result, Jackie now finds herself a very wealthy woman with ties to Pine Springs that she’d just as soon not have. But then there’s Kay—and Jackie’s struggle with her own feelings for her. In the end, Kay can’t seem to reconcile the possibility of an attraction for Jackie with living in a small town where everybody knows your business.

Using a series of flashbacks, Hill shows these two women as they were as children and as young women, while also revealing them for the strong, independent women each one has become. Jackie, especially, shows the stuff of which she is made as the story unfolds and she must make decisions that are both difficult, and sometimes a little comical, as she realizes and accepts her new responsibilities.

Whether Jackie and Kay can ever see their way to a life together is, of course, the ultimate question to be answered. Jackie easily finds solutions to her other problems in Pine Springs, but when she returns home to her house on Monterey Bay, we wonder if she’ll ever find true happiness.

Behind the Pine Curtain is another terrific romance offering by Gerri Hill. The characters seem like people we all know. Because of this, we want them to succeed. This tale is truly engaging and perfect for the eternal romantic in all of us. Don’t miss it.
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Reviewed by Anna Furtado

Title: Close Enough Author: Jane Vollbrecht ISBN: 9781932300857 Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises, www.regalcrest.biz Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz Pages: 270 Price: $19.95 Genre: Drama

Close Enough is a family saga that begins in 1942 and continues into the mid-1980s, and it covers a lot of ground during those four decades. Readers move from locations in Pennsylvania to Alabama, from the states in the middle of the country to the southeast, and then to Asia and Europe. The geographic distance pales when compared with the emotional distance traveled, explored, and examined by the main characters.

The first few chapters are chock full of characters. By the time the book finishes, over a hundred people are mentioned. It may seem like a daunting task at first to process all the names, but the major characters soon sort themselves out while the rest fade into the background, and readers are left with only the key players, whose lives are intricately connected. First, we meet Hilda Stenkiewicz and learn of her painful decision to give up her illegitimate newborn child. This event sets the whole story in motion. Hilda never loses hope that someday she’ll be able to find her child again. In the meantime, she discovers love in an unlikely place, not too far from her original home.

Then Close Enough shifts its major focus to Hilda’s child, Frannie Brewster. Readers witness all the triumphs and tragedies she experiences while growing up. You’ll share everything from her high school graduation and college years to her army career and her loves lost and loves found. Frannie reaches the age of 42 with plenty of rewarding experiences but still has one nagging, unresolved issue: she never knew the real story of her adoption. What she was told was something her adopted mother considered close enough to the truth.

Dozens of family members, friends, colleagues, and supporters populate the book. Some are important, some merely drift in and out of the plot, much as people do in real life. Vollbrecht has a knack for developing realistic characters no matter how brief their appearance, and she makes her main characters unforgettable. By the time you’ve lived with Hilda and Elaine and Frannie and Terry, you’ve cheered their victories, agonized over their heartbreaks, and slipped into the normal mundane in-between-time, sympathizing, empathizing, and knowing them for who they are, but also knowing why their lives aren’t quite enough to satisfy them.

Vollbrecht makes you visualize all the important features of each decade as it pertains to Frannie -- the Woman’s Army Corps, Women’s Rights, Gay Rights, fads and trends in music, radio, television, and the movies. History from World War II through the end of the Vietnam Conflict forms a backdrop for Frannie, but her concerns are focused on the faith, determination, and love of those closest to her, and her desperate need to reach closure in the one area of her life that isn’t resolved.

Why did her mother surrender her? Will she ever find the answers after 42 years, four months, and five days of wondering? Or will she have to settle for answers that are merely close enough?

Fortunately, however, you won’t have to settle in your search for good reading. Close Enough is as near to real life as it can get and still be fiction.
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Guest Review by K. C. West (co-author of Superstition Shadows, Celtic Shadows, and the upcoming Greek Shadows)

Title: Dark Valentine Author: Jennifer Fulton ISBN 10: 1-933110-79-1 Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, Inc., www.boldstrokesbooks.com Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz Price: $15.95 Pages: 213 Genre: Romantic thriller

Award winning author Jennifer Fulton has written a deliciously sexy thriller! Rhianna Lamb has gone to Palm Springs, Calif., hoping to have casual, no strings, sex. Staying at the same lesbian resort as Rhianna is Julia Valiant, (Jules), who is also looking for casual, no strings, sex. The two women have an unforgettable night of very hot sex, and then separate.

Rhianna is hiding from a stalker. She's living in remote Oatman, Arizona, working as a nanny. She's living under an assumed name, hoping to hide until the man who stalked and raped her comes to trial. Jules is a hot-shot defense attorney who is brought in to win high profile cases. Werner Brigham, scion of a wealthy, powerful Denver family, has hired Jules' firm to free him of the charges of kidnap and rape.

Fulton has beautifully drawn her principal characters. Rhianna could be any one of Fulton's readers; naively thinking she can convince a monster to leave her alone. Jules is driven to win in a highly competitive field. She has the brains and the skills she needs. What she may not have is the ability to protect Rhianna from Werner.

Fulton has experienced the horror of having a stalker invade her life. While Dark Valentine is not a fictionalized account of her experience, it does include the emotional experience of being stalked.

Dark Valentine is funny, scary, and very realistic. The story is tightly written and keeps the reader gripped to the exciting end. As with all of Fulton's books, this one is a must read!
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Reviewed by RLynne

Title: Foolishness, They Called It Author: Rhonda Rhodes Publisher: Heart Wings Publishing ISBN: 0974200514 Available at: Amazon.com Price: $13.95 Pages: 215 Genre: Humor

Foolishness, They Called It appears to be the only book written, so far, by Rhonda Rhodes. Since much of it seems to be drawn from life experiences, maybe it's the only one she was interested in writing, but it's a humorous story and a follow up might have been nice.

Kara and Red have agreed to take a leave of absence from their jobs in Denver to go and spend an extended period on an organic farm that two of their friends, Jim and Joan, are trying to get started in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Ashville, North Carolina. They've talked their friend Sydney into joining them in this escapade that none of them seems to be particularly well suited for. They're leaving behind jobs as a nurse, dental hygienist and a worker on the line in an electronics factory. They find themselves living on a farm that has no running water in the house, meaning that water has to be hauled and the bathroom facilities still consist of an outhouse – two seater. The book is set in the years right after the Vietnam War when organic farming was a new concept, so there will be a lot of trial and error on the farm, while most of the natives think these "city-slickers" have lost their minds. They try to tell Jim that the insects will eat up his broccoli and can only shake their heads when it happens.

The book features a host of colorful and mostly humorous characters. There's B.J., a young goat farmer who thinks she might be a lesbian, but she's not sure. If she's not though, why does she feel such an attraction to Sydney? Aunt Mabel shows the wisdom of the mountain women and reveals a story of passion that few suspected. There is the mountain man wood carver who takes a fancy to Red and tries to court her with the offer of a pretty good horse, which Kara isn't totally sure they shouldn't consider. Not everyone walks on the light side. There's the married woman who wants a fling for a thrill and the local farmer and his son who turn dangerous when Sidney's car has a breakdown. On the whole however, the book is light hearted and when the humans fail, the animals take over. Pork Chop the pig has a habit of getting loose and wandering off to visit neighbor's gardens; the dogs down the road attack every car that comes by ferociously; and there is a host of chickens with lessons to teach the women. And then there's that problem of how to have an intimate moment in a house with thin walls and five people crowded together.

Rhodes presents an interesting contrast between what people are used to in the cities versus what is available on the land. While the mountain people there may be rough, they also possess a wisdom and understanding based on watching nature and learning to know who their neighbors really are. The women and their friends find that there is as much to learn about life and relationships as there is to learn about farming. The writing is very realistic and warm. The reader develops a good feeling for what the atmosphere is on the mountain and the pace of the lifestyle. A nice read.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce

Title: Fried & True--Tales from Rehoboth Beach Author: Fay Jacobs ISBN: 978-0-9646648-8-3 Publisher: A&M Books Publisher: A&M Books (formerly Naiad) Distributed by A&M Books (order from www.fayjacobs.com) Price: $17.00 Pages: 262 Genre: Non-Fiction/Humor/Lesbian-Gay

Fried and True is a delightful second offering by Fay Jacobs. Fay is the publisher at A&M Books of Rehoboth Beach, a position she inherited from the legendary founders Anyda Marchant (Sarah Aldridge) and her partner, Muriel Crawford. The book spans the timeframe between September 2003 and December 2006.

Filled with the antics in and around Rehoboth Beach, many of these stories are from Jacobs’ regular local column called "Letters from CAMP Rehoboth." "Letters" is filled with both hilarious and thought provoking insights that are thoroughly entertaining. Interwoven with her columns is the poignant tale of the women who left a publishing and literary legacy behind.

Jacobs is a master of humor. Descriptions of her forays into women’s golf are truly comical, as are her Schnauzer stories, primarily about her own two boys, Moxie and Paddy. As she gives us her perspective on health care issues, sharing with us her own search for HMO Heaven, the reader may find herself smiling at the humor, but also nodding at the irony of the situation we all find ourselves in these days. Reflections on politics and the right wing gay agenda (don’t they have anything better to do—what with a war on and all) will strike the reader similarly. Not afraid to reveal her own vulnerabilities for a good laugh, Fay tells the story of a haphazard fall and her broken nose. Don’t miss the sidesplitting story of Jacobs’ experience at the fund-raiser atop a very high lifeguard chair. And then, there’s Mary (“Traitor”) Cheney—but don’t get Fay started. Each chapter is a new adventure that either tickles your funny bone to the marrow or allows you to feel the sadness and loss of two great ladies from Rehoboth Beach, Anyda Marchant and Muriel Crawford, Jacobs’ mentors and role models.

In Fried and True, Jacobs takes us from laugh-out-loud-moments with her marvelous sense of humor to misty-eyed moments as she tells us about her relationship with Marchant and Crawford—and their relationship to each other and their friends. The emotions portrayed in these stories run the gamut. Every tale is masterfully told—this memorable memoir is both pleasure and treasure.
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Reviewed by Anna Furtado

Title: Honor Under Siege Author: Radclyffe ISBN-10: 1-933110-80-5 Publisher: Bold Strokes Books Available from: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz and Bold Strokes Books, wwwboldstrokesbooks.com Price: $15.95 Pages: 273 Genre: Political Intrigue

In Honor Under Siege, Radclyffe has once again given her fans a fast paced thriller, with a heart stopping ending. First daughter Blair Powell and her lover Secret Service Agent Cameron Roberts are in seclusion after the almost fatal attempt on Blair's life. Masterminded by Matheson, a traitor within the nation's security system, the attempt has shaken both Blair and Cam, as well as injured members of their team. The hunt to find the traitor has set everyone, including the President, on edge.

Now, word is out that Cam's former lover, Valerie Lawrence, might hold the link to finding Matheson. Valerie, who works for The Company, has gone into hiding. Cam wants to use Blair's best friend, and Valerie's current lover for bait.

Radclyffe has written a rich, spell binding novel full of intrigue, and the luscious sex scenes for which she's known! She has also written with understanding of how personal lives and loyalties can become tied into knots when national security is involved. The Honor Series has introduced the main characters in this novel, and her fans love and understand them. However Radclyffe has given her readers a wonderful new character in the form of Valerie Lawrence. She's clever, likeable, and a survivor. I hope Radclyffe brings her back again.

Radclyffe is a well known author who delivers an enjoyable read every time!
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Reviewed by RLynne

Title: Magic In Our Hearts Author: Jeanne McCann ISBN: 0595428991 Publisher: iUniverse Inc. Available at: iUniverse.com; and StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz Price: $12.95 Pages: 151 Genre: Romance

Taylor Aronson is beautiful and successful. She and her friend Jeb have a rehabilitation facility that has an excellent reputation and a growing list of clients. The fact that her life is empty bothers her, but there doesn't seem to be a solution. Then trouble arrives in the form of Brett Andreson. Taylor and Brett knew each other years before, but the skiing champion broke Taylor's heart and she hasn't trusted anyone with it since.

Now Brett's mother is asking for a favor. Brett has suffered an accident that has ended her skiing career, but it's also broken her spirit and sent her into a downward spiral of alcoholism. Brett's mother wants Taylor to help her daughter put her life back together and find some purpose to go on. Taylor resists the assignment until she learns that the older woman is suffering from cancer Taylor feels obligated to fulfill her request. Bringing the women together reignites their feelings for each other and, as Brett grows stronger, the chance for them to have a life together seems to increase. Illness, other women and the lure of the bottle may dash their hopes again if they can't find the strength in each other to overcome these trials.

Jeanne McCann has written eight romance novels with basically the same theme. McCann writes basic romances, women meet, women overcome challenges, women find happiness. She tells a pretty routine story and throws in some steamy sex scenes. There's seldom any adventure or much tension and Magic In Our Hearts follows a predictable course, but it’s a pleasant enough read.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce

Title: Miss McGhee Author: Bett Norris Publisher: Bywater Books ISBN: 9781932859331 Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.com Price: $13.95 Pages: 285 Genre: Historical Romance

How do you review 285 pages of magnificence and do it justice?

Mary McGhee made a mistake and part of her penance is being exiled to a small Alabama town in 1948 to help run the lumber mill that the town depends on for survival. The mill has been left to a man with the mental development of a twelve year old and Mary turns to his wife, Lila Dubose, as a natural ally to combat the forces in the town who view her as an outsider and unqualified to run the business.

In her own way, Lila is also an outsider because she was brought from a poor family to ostensibly be the wife of the town prince, but in reality to be his lifelong care giver, so many people resent her new wealth and prestige. As the women work together to strengthen the mill and the town, they are drawn into a relationship that, at that time, would not only earn them the condemnation of the town's people, but could earn them each a prison sentence. Years of living in secrecy take a toll on the women, but not their relationship, as the women learn that they have friends who support them, ironically most of whom come from the segregated Negro community.

Eventually, everyone has something more to talk about than the women's relationship. The book progresses through the 1950s and into the 1960s, which sees the town trying to cope with the growing civil rights movement. Mary and Lila, who were already taxing the town's patience by helping the local Negroes, find themselves becoming more immersed in the movement. They have come to realize that, while they may not be able to alleviate the discrimination against them, they may be able to help someone else. There is an inevitable confrontation that demonstrates the level of homophobia and racism of the period, but also teaches other lessons.

Miss McGhee strikes so many chords beautifully that starting with one unfairly infers that it was better done than the others. Hopefully, it won't only be Southerners of a certain age who can grasp how well Bett Norris has captured the tone of the period just preceding and during the early years of the civil rights movement. Many white Southerners weren't blatantly racist as much as they were clueless. They lived in a society that they had never questioned, which Lila Dubose represents perfectly. Not until Mary challenges "the way things have always been" does Lila begin to realize the depth of injustice she has been taught to tolerate.

Southern blacks didn't accept the system, but rather coped with something that they thought couldn't be changed; however, there was a group of black women who were acknowledged by both parts of society and respected for their wisdom, strength and dignity. Norris has captured those women in the figure of Annie who provides the force behind much of the story. The historical accuracy of this book creates a tone that will have the reader believing that these characters actually lived.

The book reads more like an observation of real events than a fictional story. The mood is reminiscent of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird or Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding and just as compelling as either of them. The accuracy extends to the relationship between Mary and Lila. These are not two lesbians who are out and proud, defying society's conventions, but two women who are trying to nurture a relationship within the confines of the time. Yet, at the end of the story, the reader should sense that, with the unfolding of the black civil rights movement, the gay rights movement feels its first stirrings, which is also accurate.

Miss McGhee is one of those rare books that screams for a follow up. After writing such a powerful novel in her first attempt, Norris may be hesitant to try to recapture the magic, but the reader can only hope that she tries.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce

Title: Red Light Author: JD Glass ISBN: 9781933110813 Publisher: Bold Strokes Books Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.com; Bella Books, bellabooks.com Price: $15.95 Pages: 285 Genre: Romance

If you like romance rough and raw, Red Light by J.D. Glass is the book for you.

Victoria Scotts, AKA Tori, is training to be an EMT in New York City and looking for some direction in her life. She is surrounded by loyal friends and a supportive family, including her cousin Nina, a famous music star, but Tori struggles to establish a relationship with the right woman. One relationship ends in betrayal and leaves her open to a series of meaningless flings until she meets the frightening and bewitching Trace Cayden. Tori and Trace have tremendous passion between them and both like their sex rough; perhaps too rough because Tori is left with bloody markings on her body after each session. Nina and her partner Samantha, who have taken Tori into their home, fear for her safety, not only on the streets of New York after she receives her EMT license, but from this woman she seems to be infatuated with.

Everyone is relieved when Tori finally establishes herself in a partnership with Jean Scanlon, a medic she worked with who is able to show Tori the love she so desperately wants. Tori's job still has a dangerous aspect to it, but Jean and her large friendly family appear to provide her with the warm and comforting stability that she has been searching for. There will be a final encounter with Trace however that has the potential to destroy the life that Tori has found. The test will be to see if her love for Jean is strong enough to save her from the fate that Trace intends for her.

The most interesting part of this book is when Tori works in the field as an EMT. It gives an insight into the training required of these people and the situations they find themselves in. There is a harrowing scene that shows how dangerous life can be even for those who are trying to help other people. Bold Strokes Books labels this book a romance, but it might fit more appropriately in the erotica category. Tori's language is as rough as her sex practices and she appears to show little discrimination in her partners. She's young, she's free and, if the other woman is hot, why not? This alone will appeal to some readers. There are certainly plenty of places in the book that will raise your breathing and heart rates.

Otherwise, it's a rather mundane story of a woman moving through her life and trying to get things in the proper order, except for those encounters with Trace. And the reader should wonder why Tori keeps going back to her. One episode of coming home bloody and marked would be enough for most people.

The oddest aspect is the very last chapter. The tale is finished, everything has been resolved and suddenly this chapter is inserted that twists the story in a way that was never implied anywhere in the book. There is no need for this chapter and it serves no purpose other than to promote questions for which the reader can't get any answers. There hasn't been a book with as perplexing an ending since John Fowles released The French Lieutenant's Woman with two endings and told the readers to pick the one they liked. Some readers will enjoy Red Light for various reasons, but be ready to be puzzled at the end.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce

Author: Second Season Author: Ali Vali ISBN: 10: 1-933110-83-X Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, www.boldstrokesbooks.com Available From: Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz; and Bella Books, www.bellabooks.com Price: $15.95 Pages: 302 Genre: Romance/Drama

Whether Ali Vali is writing about crime figures or lawyers, her characters are well drawn and extremely likeable. Indeed, writing so the reader really cares about the main characters is a trademark of a Vali novel. Second Season is no exception to the rule. Tully Badeaux, born to a backwater fisherman and his wife, has become an outstanding lawyer. A physician as well as a lawyer, she specializes in malpractice lawsuits. Her specialty makes her partner, a doctor at Children's Hospital, wince! Tully, completely involved in her practice, is chagrined to find that she has been neglecting her own two children and her partner. This lesson is made very clear when she discovers that Jessica, her partner and the mother of her children, is having an affair. As her life crashes down around her, Tully finds support from Libby, a law student, and her children.

Set in the drama of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Second Season shows that people can have a chance to set their priorities and enjoy the second season of their lives. This is a rich, enjoyable read that's not to be missed.
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Reviewed by RLynne

Title: Sequestered Hearts Author: Erin Dutton ISBN10: 1-933110-78-3 Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, www.boldstrokesbooks.com Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz, and www.bellabooks.com Price: $15.95 Pages: 216 pages Genre: Lesbian Romance

Sequestered Hearts by first time novelist, Erin Dutton, is everything a romance should be. It is teeming with longing, heartbreak, and of course, love. I have reread this book twice, and as pure romances go, it is one of the best in print today.

With rich and lush descriptions of upstate New York, Dutton takes the reader on the journey of successful artist Cori Saxton and journalist Bennett McClain. Cori has become a recluse in her beautiful “hideaway” far from the city she calls her playground. Ben reluctantly agrees to conduct an exclusive interview which may save her employer’s magazine. Her task is to find out why Cori suddenly dropped out of the social scene in Manhattan. It is evident, as we become drawn into the story, that Cori is hiding something from Ben as well as the reader.

Dutton immediately captures our attention by giving Cori a secret that she does not want to share. She drops clues in the first pages, but smartly divulges the truth early in the book that Cori has Multiple Sclerosis. This progressive disease turns into a major subplot thus giving more power to the love story.

Sequestered Hearts is packed with raw emotion, but filled with tender moments too. The author writes with sophistication that one would expect from a veteran author. She builds anticipation and demonstrates Ben’s and Cori’s obvious attraction at the beginning of the novel, but we also see the antagonism and frustration these two characters experience with each other. Ben leaves Cori after she gets the interview with every intention of walking away from this enigmatic woman, and that is what Cori wants, too, or so we are led to believe.

To this reviewer, a romance is about more than just plot and character development. It’s about passion, physical intimacy, and connection between the characters. The reader should have a visceral reaction to what is going on within the pages for the novel to succeed. Dutton’s words match perfectly with the emotion she has created. Every encounter oozes with Ben’s and Cori’s hunger for each other. Sequestered Hearts is one book that cannot be overlooked. It is romance at its finest.

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Reviewed by Kathi Isserman

Title: Sequestered Hearts Author: Erin Dutton ISBN10: 1-933110-78-3 Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, www.boldstrokesbooks.com Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz, and www.bellabooks.com Price: $15.95 Pages: 216 pages Genre: Lesbian Romance

Sequestered Hearts is the story of artist Cori Saxton and journalist Bennett McClain. Bennett has been given the assignment of interviewing Cori Saxton at her home in upstate New York. Her goal is to find out why the very public socialite artist has gone into seclusion. Bennett expects her assignment to be a piece of fluff about a spoiled heiress. What she find instead is an extremely attractive and charming subject. Bennett, who is quite down to earth, is shaken by how appealing Cori is.

Cori is trying to find a way to live with a difficult diagnosis. She has agreed to be interviewed by Bennett as a way to quiet the gossip columnists. She has no idea how much she's going to enjoy Bennett's company.

Sequestered Hearts tells of two very private women dealing with the magnetic attraction between them. It is the story of the difficult dance between them, and how each is able to resolve her individual issues and find happiness. Cori and Bennett are likeable, well developed characters and their story will keep the reader turning the pages to see how it all works out.
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Reviewed by RLynne

Title: Stellium in Scorpio Author: Andrews & Austin ISBN: 1-933110-65-1 Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, www.boldstrokesbooks.com Available From: Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz and Bella Books, www.bellabooks.com Price: $15.95 Pages: 235 Genre: Lesbian Mystery

Andrews & Austin, the successful authors of Combust the Sun, have given their fans another side-splitting Richfield & Rivers mystery. Screenwriter Teague Richfield has a date to meet her lover, the gorgeous psychic Callie Rivers, in Las Vegas. Callie has been hired to protect the daughter of an old friend. The Vegas showgirl has been put on the ghoul pool list. The last person placed on that list died.

Callie and Teague quickly find that the smoke and mirrors are not just on the stage, and that nothing and nobody is quite what they seem to be. Things become very tense when Elmo, Teague's beloved basset, goes missing. Teague and Callie are run off the road, down a cliff, and videotaped as they make passionate love. Things can only get worse when Callie's parents come to meet Teague and stay in the room next door.

Andrews and Austin write an extremely tight story, filled with hilarious and heart-stopping moments. They manage to keep the reader on the edge of her chair, at the same time as she's chortling over another scene. Stellium in Scorpio is another great read. I can't wait for their next novel, which is coming in September.
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Reviewed by RLynne

Title: The Carradine Diary Author: Virginia Smith ISBN-10: 1873741936; ISBN-13: 978-1873741931 Publisher: Diva Books Available From: Amazon, www.Amazon.com Pages: 211 Price: $14.95 Genre: Mystery/Romance

Sometimes people with important gifts disappear before they can be discovered. This is frustrating to those who find their work because just when they're developing a taste for it, they learn that there won't be any more. Such is the case with Virginia Smith. A long introduction by her editor explains that Smith was killed in an auto accident before The Carradine Diary could be published. She had completed one other novel, The Ropemaker's Daughter, and the books offer great promise for what was to come. Now, that won't happen, but The Carradine Diary remains as a fitting legacy for the author.

Abby Martin is a graphic designer who has received a commission to illustrate a book being written by famed biographer Mo Laker. To complete the drawings, Abby has to leave her partner Gayle behind in England while she flies to Canada, but this hasn't been as difficult as it should have been. Abby and Gayle have a long term relationship, but Abby is beginning to question if it's all that it should be. She's hoping that the time spent in Canada will give her time to work all of this out in her mind. Her assignment is to travel around Prince William Island drawing places that were important in the life of Lucy Pritchard. Pritchard was a 19th century writer who is famous for a series of children's books that have spawned a number of cottage industries that support the economic life on the island. Mo provides a list of places that she wants sketched for the book, then Abby is left on her own and slowly unwraps a mystery about Lucy and her life.

In a small community called Carradine, where Lucy used to teach, Abby meets the attractive Elise Robichaud, her mother Ruth, and her grandmother Marie. Abby feels herself drawn to Elise, but it quickly becomes clear that the Robichauds, who were tied to Lucy's story, have something to hide that neither they nor Mo want Abby to find out. Before leaving on a trip, Mo tells Abby not to return to Carradine, but it's a promise she can't keep because of her desire to see Elise again. A broken starter on her car leaves Abby stranded in Carradine with time – time to explore her relationship with Elise, time to worry about her relationship with Gayle and time to discover Lucy's Carradine Diary, which will reveal a shocking surprise about Lucy Pritchard's life that becomes a completely unexpected twist to the story. Abby is confronted by choices about her life, Elise, Gayle and Lucy, all of which could have devastating effects.

Virginia Smith was a word master. She alternates between first person narrative and dialogue to create an atmosphere of intimacy with Abby. The reader knows what she's thinking and shares the confusion of her emotions as the story unfolds. By moving back and forth between the story of Abby and Elise and Lucy's story, Smith creates a growing sense of suspense about both stories. She deftly plants hints as to what Lucy's secret might have been and then catches the reader at the end with an unexpected revelation. This book deserves to have attention paid to it because it is a powerful piece of literature. The only drawback is that, as you're realizing what a fine book you've read, you'll also remember that there won't be any more. That truly is a shame.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce

Title: The Ladies Next Door Author: Jacqui Singleton ISBN: 0977273431 Publisher: Artemis Press Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz; and Artemis Press Price: $17.95 Pages: 226 Genre: Fiction/Lesbian

Jacqui Singleton leaves the world of fantasy, which was the basis for her previous books, to tell the story of Silver River, a small town in Virginia that is about to be turned upside down by the arrival of its first lesbians.

Diana Renoir and Cleo Damien left Boston to try to find a place where they can live a "normal" life. Silver River seems to be what they're looking for though at first they're treated as the town oddities. Southern civility gradually wins out however and by force of personality and general good will, Cleo and Diana begin to win over the citizens of the town. Everyone that is but their neighbor Jonathan Anzalone, the head of the bank. Anzalone is a powerful man who is threatened by a woman who has more power, Cleo Damien. He is determined to find out the source of her wealth and to steal Diana from her since he's sure that all Diana needs to fulfill her life is the "right man."

As Jonathan is thwarted at every turn, Cleo becomes a bigger enemy as she takes on the job of mentor to his son Nathan. Nothing that Nathan does ever pleases his father, especially when he is always being beaten up by the town bullies. In Cleo, Nathan finds a friend who accepts him as he is, but teaches him valuable lessons about how to be his "own man" and a better man than his father. As Diana and Cleo begin to transform the lives of the citizens of Silver River, a killer is operating in their midst. Someone is murdering women and there is a growing fear that Diana may be the next target. The strands of the story come together as Cleo prepares to deal with Jonathan Anzalone and protect Diana at all costs. The outcome will depend on whether or not young Nathan can emerge as the man his father has never seen.

Singleton creates an interesting cast of characters in this book. Cleo Damien is somewhat reminiscent of the swashbuckling heroes in old movies. Although she claims not to like children, she recognizes a kindred spirit in Nathan and becomes more of a role model than his father could ever be. The Finimore sisters, Mavis and Avis, provide the lighter touch as a couple of older sisters who are the town's finest cooks and totally happy depending on each other, until Diana befriends them and opens up a new future for one of them that threatens to split the sisters forever. Ophelia Anzalone, Nathan's abused mother, is as sad as her namesake until she begins to see the possibility of a new life also. Jonathan Anzalone's slow decline into demented evil is one of the best portrayals in the book as he devolves from a man entranced by his own power to one whose world is spinning out of control as he loses touch with reality.

Singleton weaves these people and the different threads of The Ladies Next Door into a book that is part mystery, part character study and all entertaining reading. In Silver River and its people, she has created a story that begs for a sequel so that the reader can follow up on what happens to this unique group of individuals.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce

Title: The Spanish Pearl Author: Catherine Friend ISBN: 1933110767 Publisher: Bold Strokes Books, www.boldstrokesbooks.com Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz; and Bella Books, www.bellabooks.com Price: $15.95 Pages: 293 Genre: Lesbian

If you like historical fiction, this book by Goldie Award winning author Catherine Friend is for you.

Kate Vincent and her partner have traveled to Spain to adopt a child named Arturo. Kate isn't sure that she wants a child, but Anna does and Kate usually does what Anna wants. Besides, Arturo captures her heart immediately and she is determined to give him a good life. The process is delayed when Arturo catches a cold and, to pass the time, one afternoon Kate decides to visit a cave. While there she becomes dizzy, passes out and wakes up nine hundred years in the past. A woman who is used to cars, television, women's rights and who has an addiction to Diet Coke and chocolate finds herself in the Spain of the Moorish occupation in the days of El Cid. Moorish women have no rights at all, a fact that gets tart tongued Kate in trouble immediately.

Kate is taken prisoner by a group of soldiers, thrown into a harem and forced to live in a world where women are barely third class citizens. She is determined to escape in order to find the cave and return to the future, but is thwarted at every turn by Luis Navarro, a dashing captain of the guard. As Kate blunders her way through the life of the 11th century, Luis is there to save her, stop her and basically try to keep her alive. Kate continues to plot her return, but finds herself being drawn more to Luis, who has a secret to share, and Kate begins to question her relationship with Anna and whether or not returning to her own time is what she truly wants to do. After a daring dash across Spain, time spent in dungeons and being tortured, plus mingling in the intrigues of both the Moorish and Spanish royal courts, Kate has to face a final decision, which century is the one where her heart belongs.

Catherine Friend has managed to tell an exciting story that draws the reader in without violating the constraints of history. Kate isn't a 21st century woman running around living that lifestyle in the 11th century. She has to follow the customs of the time, wear the appropriate clothing and respond as a woman from that time would. She doesn't lose any of her fire, but she also isn't accepted as an equal who can stand toe-to-toe with men and look them in the eye.

Friend doesn't use the trick of saying this is fantasy, so forget the reality of the period because it's fiction. She makes her heroine conform to the time and still keeps her interesting. The details in the book show the depth of her research. Little items like Kate, who is an artist, getting in trouble for putting perspective in her pictures (which won't be done for another four hundred years) or making a reference to how women dealt with menstrual periods in those days, help the reader to feel like she is in Spain in 1085 and makes the book seem almost true history. In fact, the reader will have to keep remembering that this IS fiction because the characters seem so real and true to the time.

Don't dismiss this as dry history however. There is humor, lust and danger enough to interest anyone. The Spanish Pearl is an exciting work to read and it might teach the reader something at the same time. Who could ask for more? Friend has the sequel to this book, The Crown of Valencia, coming out in the fall of 2007. If she continues with her style and research, the sequel should be worth reading also.

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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce

Title: Water Witch: The Deceiver's Grave Author: Nene Adams ISBN: 1933720204 Publisher: P.D. Publishing, Inc. Available From: StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz Cost: $19.99 Pages: 279 Genre: Adventure/Romance

Swashbuckling pirates – supernatural occurrences – lost treasure – lusty lovers – adventure on the land and seas – what more could anyone possibly want from a book?

Bess O'Bedlam, known as the Water Witch, has been hunting for years to discover the legendary treasure left behind by Fancy Tom Carew, who killed his whole crew so that he wouldn't have to share his hoard of gold, silver and jewels. As she has led her fleet of five pirate ships on raids around the Caribbean, her goal has been to follow the clues leading to the last resting place of Carew's loot laden ship, the “Deceiver.” On the island of Antigua she discovers the most intriguing clue of all, a tattoo on the shoulder of the fiery and beautiful Marguerite De Vries.

Margo is an accomplished thief who has no interest in going to sea, but Bess is a pirate who has no problem with kidnapping and keeping her a prisoner. Despite tumultuous fights, the two find themselves drawn to the vibrancy that radiates from each woman. What follows is a string of adventures including battles at sea, incantations and spirit visitations, and a wild Spanish woman with a nasty temper and quick dagger. All of this serves to bring the women closer together and the treasure hunt eventually turns into a race against time when Bess and Margo realize there is more at stake than just finding the riches. The charmed tattoo draws them to an island where all of their dreams should be fulfilled, but instead a nightmare begins to unfurl, culminating in a race across the water and a battle that is nothing short of epic and mystical. Whether or not Bess and Margo can have a future together literally becomes a fight between life and death.

Nene Adams has crafted a story that reeks of authenticity, including the fact that there were a number of famous female pirates who successfully prowled the Caribbean area in the 17th and 18th centuries. She uses so many terms and sayings from the period that she includes a glossary at the back of the book to explain them.

When Bess is standing on her quarterdeck preparing her ship for battle, you can almost smell the salt water and envision what the crew looks like as they go about their duties. The supernatural scenes which might make a reader think that the book is a fantasy are done so realistically and with such skill, that it becomes totally possible to believe they are happening.

The supporting cast is as riveting as the leading ladies. Solomon Lovelock, who ultimately proves what true loyalty is; Dunn, the first mate, and his lover the blademaster Levalier who provide lessons in seamanship and fighting techniques; Mistress Glasspoole, who provides a wealth of information about using herbs and natural items to treat wounds and illness; and towering above them all, quite literally, is Captain Letty Speedwell. If Bess O'Bedlam wasn't such a dynamic character, her best friend Letty could easily dominate the book, but Adams strikes a perfect balance between the two. There is a scene in the final battle where Speedwell will make the reader want to sit up and shout at her performance. There are many other characters and scenes which enhance the story and will stick in the reader's mind.

Adams obviously did extensive research for this book. Besides the language, the details in the clothing, food and geography, plus the extensive knowledge of the medical lore and supernatural beliefs, give this book the texture that all historical novels should have. It puts to shame those books that twist history so that it can't be recognized in reality. At the end it's a disappointment to remember that these people did not really exist. Water Witch: The Deceiver's Grave is a book that deserves to be read and enjoyed.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce

Title: Whiskey and Oak Leaves Author: Jaime Clevenger ISBN: 976-1-59493-093-5 Publisher: Bella Books Available From: Bella Books,www.bellabooks.com; and StarCrossed Productions, www.SCP-inc.biz Price: $13.95 Pages: 187 Genre: Romance

Whiskey and Oak Leaves is the story of Meg, June, and a horse ranch. Meg is a paramedic. She met June when June was thrown from a horse. June, a divorcee, is co-owner of a horse ranch located in the Sierra foothills of California. The other owner, June's sister, would like to sell the ranch, take the money, and run. June loves the ranch, the horses, and the work.

Clevenger tells the story through the voices of Meg and June, switching points of view as their story unfolds. In so doing, she allows the reader to understand the thoughts and the motivation of each of her primary characters. As their story unfolds, Meg and June are involved in the old dance of attraction and rejection. June, seemingly straight, must deal with her attraction to Meg. Meg must decide if it’s worth getting involved with a “straight” woman, no matter how attractive she may be. Clevenger has included friends, farm hands, neighbors, and all of the other characters that fill June's and Meg's lives. This gives the reader a rich tapestry of people, and a very real sense of the twists and turns of their lives.

Whiskey and Oak Leaves is an enjoyable read that left this reader with the smell of oak leaves and a vision of the green and gold hills of California.
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Reviewed by RLynne